Kingdom Hearts: Wings of Hope
by Wind the Hedgehog 11
Summary: There aren't enough characters in this description to put my full description, so I'll include it in the first chapter.
1. Description

**(A/N: Here's the description of the story! It was too long to fit in the description box :/ Anyways, enjoy!)**

Nikko had always belonged on the islands with her friends and family, or so she thought. When the islands are suddenly plunged into darkness, she wakes to find herself in a strange town in an even stranger world. After an accident involving the darkness claiming her heart, Nikko now faces a near identical twin, who calls herself the second half to Nikko's name, Kage. Now on a race to find her friends and new ones, Nikko is thrown into the conflict between her brother Sora, and the seeker of darkness, Ansem.

Book 1 of the "Guardians of the Heart" series.

**(A/n: And that's the description! A bit wordy and slightly long, which is why I had to put it here instead of in the actual description.)**


	2. Prologue

**(A/N: First KH fanfic yay! \\(^.^)/ Woot woot! This story is mainly dedicated to my dear friend epictomboy101, so check out her stories! Epic was the one who introduced me to KH three years ago, even though I didn't really care...Oh well, enjoy the prologue!)**

"Hayner! Give it back!"

"Not until you tell me what my present is!"

The sounds of the children was soothing. The little light floated in and out of shadows, hiding behind bins and bushes.

"Hayner, give me back my necklace!"

"What's my present?"

The little light stopped behind a bush. There. It could sense a heart that was similar to hers. Maybe, she can use that heart as a cover, and as a friend.

That heart...the light connected it with the voice of a little girl, no older than 6 years. The light paused, choosing to let the conversation unfold before attempting to connect with the girl's heart.

"Fine, I'll tell you. Mama says we're getting you the brand new bike you-"

"Really?! Awesome! Here, have your necklace, I need to go tell Pence!"

The light flickered as the boy ran past, but he didn't notice. The light waited for a moment, then rose from its hiding place and moved slightly to catch the girl's attention. She turned and spotted the light. She walked right up to the light.

"Hi!"

The light paused.

_Hello, there. do you live here?_

"Yep! Twilight Town is my home! My name's Nikkage, but everyone just calls me Nikko!"

_That's funny, because my name is Kage._

"Really? Then we're going to be friends!"

_Nikko, do you mind helping me?_

"Sure! Are you hurt?"

_Well, yeah. I'm hurt, in a way...My heart...it was taken over by the darkness. Do you mind letting me-_

"You can stay with me until you're strong enough to go back! After that, we can be best friends for life!"

_Thanks, Nikko._

"No problem!" The little light moved forwards and disappeared into the girl's body, right where her heart was.

"Nikko!" A mother's voice cut through the silence. "It's time to come home!"

"I'm coming-" A shriek pierced the calm atmosphere of Twilight Town as a fountain of darkness sprouted behind the girl. "Mama, help!"

The darkness curved upwards, then hit the ground, tendrils grabbing at the girl's arms and legs.

"Mama!"

Then the darkness was gone, having dragged the girl into its depths. All that could be heard, was the sobbing of a mother.


	3. Chapter 1

"Nikko! Wait up!"

Nikko turned, her black bangs falling out of place. Her friend, Kairi, caught up to her, holding a bag of marshmallows.

Kairi was a year older than Nikko, even though they look the same age. Minus some obvious differences, the two of them stuck together like glue.

"Hey Kairi!" Nikko waved as her friend settled into a walk. Kairi blew a strand of red hair away from her face. Nikko got excited as she asked, "So, you ready for the bonfire?"

"Yep!" Kairi hesitated before continuing. "Um, Nikko, do you like Sora?" Sora was Nikko's foster brother, whose parents took her in when she got lost on the islands and had no family.

Nikko raised an eyebrow. "What type of like? I mean, I like Sora as family, that much is obvious, even though I don't know how I put up with him and his laziness!" She threw her hands into the air, but smiled a bit at her brother's laid back behaviour.

"Well, uh, never mind," Kairi muttered, her cheeks turning a light pink. This, unfortunately, was noticed by Nikko.

"Oh, what do I see?" Nikko giggled, nudging Kairi lightly in the arm. "Do I sense that someone has a crush on my brother?"

"Please, Nikko," Kairi said, sounding defeated. "Can you at least not tell Sora about it? And, don't joke about it either..." Nikko seemed to think about it for a few seconds before leaning in closer to her friend.

"I won't tell him, I promise. But I won't stop teasing you about it!" She said before dashing off to the beach. Kairi followed her, shouting out threat after threat. Nikko ran all the way to the beach, dashing past her mom.

"Hey mom, can't talk, gotta run!" She yelled, laughing as Kairi almost flew across the sand. The redhead slowed down just enough to drop off the marshmallows and to say something to Nikko's mom.

"Hi, Ms Irino*!" Kairi muttered before resuming her chase. Nikko was well ahead, running right beside the rolling waves. She slowed down just enough to look over her shoulder, only to see her friend gaining a lot of ground. What she didn't see was a certain silver-haired boy turning around at exactly the wrong moment.

Her whole body felt the impact as she bounced off of Riku, managing to knock him down too. How Nikko managed to knock the guy who carried the sitting logs with only two hands, she didn't know.

Both of them fell back and hit the sand hard. Nikko faintly heard Kairi slowing down and yelling if she was okay.

"Owwwww..." Nikko groaned, squeezing her eyes shut against the instant headache. She felt someone poke her side twice and cracked upon one eye. "Sora stop, I'm not dead!" Her cheeky brother just grinned before laughing.

"What were you doing anyways?" A new voice entered the conversation and Nikko opened her other eye and sat up. Her hand shot up and pressed against her temple, as Riku reached down the feel the back of her head. "At least you fell on the sand. You're not gonna get a bruise from this, just a headache."

"Thanks Mr. Obvious, I can tell," Nikko winced. "And what did it look like? I was running from Kairi!" Sora sat down and leaned forward, listening attentively.

"What for?" He asked, completely oblivious to the alarmed look on Kairi's face. Riku rolled his eyes and Nikko giggled.

"Well, Kairi has a-mfffiugjhvsdvdv!" Nikko started, but Kairi quickly covered her mouth with a hand.

"Just for fun!" The older girl said quickly. Nikko just rolled her eyes as Kairi removed her hand. She was about to get up when Riku reached down and grabbed her hand. He pulled her up swiftly, and she squeezed her eyes tight again as the dizziness came back.

"You know you should've looked while you were running," he said, giving her a look. Nikko stuck her tongue out at him.

"Well, you should have moved out of the way!

"Hey, I wasn't looking out for silly girls running at breakneck speed!" Nikko mocked being offended at this.

"You take that back!" In the background, Sora and Kairi just glanced at each other before grinning and continuing to watch the scene.

"Take which part back?" Riku said, jokingly raising up an eyebrow. Nikko vaguely realized that she and Riku were still holding hands.

"Take all of it back!" Nikko laughed and pulled Riku into the water and letting go before she fell in too. Sora and Kairi had trouble trying to stifle their laughter.

All three of them took a step back as Riku rose out of the water, completely wet from head to toe.

"Run!" was the only thing Sora said before racing away. The two girls followed quickly as Riku lunged for them, a playful smirk growing on his face. Nikko caught up to Sora and shoved him back a little behind her.

"Take Sora, not me!" She shouted at Riku, who was catching up to them like it was nothing.

"What?!" Sora had the most panicked expression on his face. "Why me?" His question trailed off has Riku grabbed his arm and nudged him into the water. Kairi quickly followed him into the water when she stumbled while running.

Nikko yelped as she felt someone brush her back and picked up the speed, approaching the little tower that had the zip line on it. Jumping up and climbing two ladder rungs at a time from years of practice, she quickly attached a bar to the line and took off, tucking in her legs to avoid the palm trees.

A quick glance behind her confirmed that Riku was following close behind. Nearing the middle of the line, Nikko swung suddenly to the left and let go of the bar, landing on the sand and taking off for the Paopu Tree. She approached it in a few minutes and stepped up onto the sideways trunk, walking carefully to the leafy top, which hung over the edge of the outcropping of sand and rock.

Nikko gazed into the water below her. The sand bank didn't really exist here; it was a straight drop into the water, like a cliff, where the sea floor was deeper too. She could see her reflection in the soft, rolling waves, staring back innocently. Somehow, it felt like her reflection was someone older, going back to gaze on her life. Nikko abruptly stood up, suddenly feeling strange, like she had noticed something she shouldn't have.

A slightly sharp but rough end of, what seemed to be, a stick poked the back of her neck, breaking Nikko out of her odd reverie. She turned around on the tree trunk to see Riku pointing his wooden sword at her, grinning mischievously.

"When did you grab that...?" She started, then saw three other wooden swords laying nearby. "Oh, never mind."

"So," Riku said casually, flicking his wrist to move her hair out of the way. "You gonna surrender and come back to the bonfire quietly? Or do we need to do this the hard way?"

Nikko let out a long whistle. "You know I'm not gonna go back without a fight!" She said, tensing to jump over him and grab two swords. Before she could, Riku dropped his and lunged at her, pushing both of them into the water.

She only had a second to take in air before the cool water decided to team up with Riku. Nikko sunk lower than he did and opened her eyes. Her hair drifted past her and it was almost like a dream. Everything was bathed in a teal light, and the afternoon sun dappling the water, ever sinking lower to become twilight. Her arm was lifted up by the currents towards Riku, who was a dark spot against the light.

Bubbles of air escaped her as a horrible feeling came to her while watching Riku swam down to grab her. Even as they both broke the surface of the water, she couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible was about to happen.

**(A/N: * Irino is the last name of Sora's Japanese voice actor, and has been widely used as Sora's last name.)**


	4. Chapter 2

Nikko shivered despite the thick, warm blanket wrapped around her. Night had started to fall and the bonfire had been lit, casting a soft orange glow on the occupants of the islands sitting in front of it.

"Cold?" Nikko jumped at Riku's voice, who had approached her silently. She turned around to cast him a glance.

"And if I am?" She pressed, curious to see what he was going to say. Riku just shrugged before replying.

"I was going to ask you to sit with us right by the fire," he said. "But, if you want to stay over here and freeze, that's your choice."

Nikko glanced behind him and noticed Sora and Kairi, the former keeping a bag of marshmallows from Kairi's grasp. She quickly scrambled up, tightening her grip on the blanket.

The two of them sat down on the same blanket as their friends, Kairi finally managing to reclaim her bag. The group fell into a round of laughter, the noise matched only by the crackling of the bonfire.

The stars twinkled above the occupants basking in the friendly glow of the bonfire. The adults were talking in hushed tones, careful not to wake any of the sleeping children.

Sora and Kairi had both nodded off to sleep, leaving Nikko and Riku to sit in silence.

"Say," Riku spoke, keeping his voice quiet, as to not wake their friends. "Are you sure you don't want to come with us to leave the island?"

She smiled a bit, but shook her head.

"I wish I could come, but I can't leave the islands," Nikko stared into the depths of the flames flickering in front of her. She could feel his disappointment burning into her side. "But, there is something I'd like you to do when you're traveling." She felt a small wave of cheer when Riku had instantly perked up.

"And what's that?" He said, trying to keep the curiosity out of his voice. Nikko tilted her head, her hair falling out of place to hang, illuminated by the light from the bonfire.

"Well, more like three things. Three promises," She said, closing her eyes briefly, then reopening them to gaze at Riku. "First of all, I want you to watch over Sora and Kairi. Who knows what sort of trouble he'll get in?" They both laughed softly as Sora rolled over in his sleep at the mention of his name.

"So, what are the next two?" Riku pressed.

"Be patient!" She chided, but continued nonetheless. "The next thing is that I want you to do is to come back every once in a while and bring something from the other worlds. If you just leave and not come back, everyone's gonna be really upset..." She trailed off and Riku placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, don't worry," He reassured her. "I don't think anything can stop us from coming back to the islands to see all of you guys." Nikko paused, then smiled.

"And the last thing is," She started, then stopped, hesitating slightly. "Riku...Don't forget me, alright?" She turned her head away from him, her cheeks heating up.

"Hey," Riku said softly and she looked back at him. "I won't forget you, I promise."

They smiled at each other, until Nikko yawned, finally letting her tiredness claim her mind.

Yet even so, satisfied with the promise, an odd feeling lurked at the back of her mind.

**(A/N: This one was really short, I know. Also, about the rapid updates, I'm just catching up the chapters to match the ones that are already posted on Wattpad, which is where I actually write the chapters.)**


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